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combat tours in the MTO completed
them in August or September 1943.
As to the aircraft, of the 60 that
have been identified, 17 are known to
have been lost in action—on combat
missions—and five in accidents.
Many more were, in fact, lost, but
there are no records available of some
of the accidents, and Missing Aircrew
Reports, which contain the serial
numbers of the missing aircraft, did
not come into use in the MTO until
mid-June of 1943. Few of these P-38s
likely survived until the end of that
year.
The first of the former 78th FG
pilots to be killed in action was 2nd
Lt. Donald E. Field (82nd FS), who
ended up serving with the 1st FG’s
27th FS. On 5 April 1943, the first day
of Operation Flax, in which Allied
fighters targeted transport aircraft
from Sicily that were resupplying the
beleaguered Axis forces in Tunisia,
Lt. Field was shot down and killed by
a Luftwaffe Bf 109 during a huge air
battle north of Cap Bon.
The last 78th FG Lightning known
to have been lost in action was P-38G-
10-LO 42-12887, of the 1st Group’s
71st Squadron (and formerly of
the 83rd FS). First Lieutenant Reed
C. Owens, coincidentally a former
84th FS pilot, was shot down in it
on 7 January 1944. This was during
a bomber escort mission to Weiner
Neustadt, Austria, from the 1st’s base
in Italy. According to Owens’ element
leader, 1st Lt. Charles E. Simpson:
“Two enemy planes attacked my
element and we broke right, but they
followed in the turn and shot out the
right radiator of Lt. Owens’ plane. I
instructed him to feather his engine
and he told me that he was bailing
out. Two more Bf 109s were attacking
me from the rear and I had to turn
into them and could not see whether
Lt. Owens bailed out or not.”
Reed Owens did bail out, to
become a prisoner of war.
The former 78th FG P-38 pilots
were credited with a total of 77 enemy
aircraft destroyed in the air. Six of
them became aces, with five or more
victories: Major Herbert E. Ross of
the 48th FS, 14th FG and 2nd Lt.
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This is another rare USAAF color photo taken in North Africa in 1943. Its subject is
seven-victory 96th FS ace — and former 82nd FS pilot — 2nd Lt. Larry Liebers.These three 94th FS, 1st FG pilots shot down seven Bf 109s during a B-26 escort to
Sicily on 20 June 1943. In the middle is 1st Lt. Leonard P. Stephan, who was credited
with two of them. On 26 January, while a member of the 82nd FS, Lt. Stephan
had flown P-38G-5-LO 42-12830 to Langford Lodge to have the special air filters
installed. That plane later served with the 96th FS in North Africa and was lost in
action over Sicily on 3 July 1943.